Speaking Notes for The Honourable Bill Blair Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mr. Chair, Committee Members,

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.

I’m joined here today by Commissioner Lucki, as well as additional representatives from the RCMP.

I welcome this Committee’s study on issues surrounding Justice Bastarache’s report on gender- and sexual orientation-based harassment and discrimination in the RCMP.

The report highlights too many cases of workplace harassment, sexism, and sexual misconduct that affected women and LGBTQ2S members within the RCMP, with possibly more that went unreported.

Let me state unequivocally that all Canadians deserve to feel safe from harassment and violence.

That is why our Government explicitly mandated the Commissioner of the RCMP to protect employees from this type of harassment and violence.

After all, the women and members of the LGBTQ2S+ community who experienced this harassment had to consider whether reporting it would affect their career, their chances of promotion, or their safety.

The report highlights that, tragically, there is a long history of routine discrimination and sexual harassment of women and members of the LGBTQ2S+ community within the RCMP. 

As soon as it was released, I spoke with Commissioner Lucki.

I emphasized that these unacceptable patterns of behavior must end.

And I stated that a comprehensive plan must be implemented to address the report’s findings and recommendations.

I also spoke with Justice Bastarache to inform him of my commitment to wholly support the Commissioner in bringing about the necessary changes, as well as to overseeing reform of the RCMP guided by his recommendations.

Today, I am encouraged to report that implementation of many of the recommendations in the Independent Assessor’s final report are underway, and that the RCMP is advancing action to address root causes, and ensure women are fully supported.

I know Commissioner Lucki will speak in greater detail to that progress, and on forward priorities to address crucial issues of equality. 

But I will report on a few key points.

First, a new Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution will begin operating this month, to help ensure impartiality and consistency in decision-making and disciplinary action.

What this means is that those that have been harassing women and members of the LGBTQ2S community will not have their cases reviewed internally or by anyone in their chain of command.

Prior to April 2019, cases of sexual harassment tended to be handled internally.

This approach did not enable survivors to feel heard or believed, nor did it give rise to the belief that offenders would be held accountable.

With the establishment of the ICHR, through external investigators we seek to increase trust, address concerns of retribution and bias, and ensure that appropriate discipline is taken, up to and including termination.

It will also work to address gaps identified by many, including consistency of decision-making; timeliness of investigations and lack of investigators; as well as a lack of follow-up, early intervention tools and informal conflict management.

The ICHR WILL also align with the new Canada Labour Code Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations under Bill C-65.

But measures cannot solely be merely after-the-fact. While a trusted, effective and credible harassment resolution process is crucial, we need to also prevent harassment from occurring in the first place.  

To that end, a GBA+ review is being performed on the training curriculum, in addition to a review of the “para-military” aspects of training at Depot.

This is an effort to affect cultural change towards workplace harassment and violence within the organization beginning at the start of a member’s career.

In order to prevent retaliation or a re-occurrence, managers and supervisors will be provided with the necessary tools and resources in order to perform workplace restoration activities.

In order to promote greater accountability, these will be tracked in the Conflict Resolution Plan as part of the overall case resolution process.

The report was clear that we need to both review the conduct and disciplinary measures as well as how they are applied to members to demonstrate that the RCMP is effectively identifying, correcting and eliminating misconduct in their ranks. 

As the Commissioner will explain, the RCMP will launch an external review of their conduct and disciplinary process to make sure they reflect concerns and realities in 2021.

Both the Commissioner and I are not satisfied that we are seeing the kinds of changes that are expected of a modern law enforcement body.

As Minister, Canadians expect that worst behavior will result in serious disciplinary action on a consistent basis. And this is what I expect as well.

Second, I am glad to hear the RCMP has launched a comprehensive Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, to address systemic barriers for diverse groups.

The strategy is designed to establish clear and coherent directions for establishing transparent and accountable practices; stronger education, awareness and training regimes; and the foundations for culture change with the RCMP.

Canadians will rightfully expect to measure progress, and I am confident that the RCMP will provide regular updates to that effect.

And I know Commissioner Lucki will also describe how the RCMP is modernizing their recruitment and onboarding processes, including introducing new tools to assess character and detect bias.

We have a duty to do all the necessary work to prevent harassment and discrimination from occurring ever again.Far too many women and members of the LGBTQ2S community within the RCMP have faced this troubling reality.

Employees and all Canadians should feel safe in coming forward to report all forms of harassment, and they must know that they’ll be heard, believed and supported.

Those difficult calls must be met with a transparent investigation with tangible consequences for those responsible, while actively supporting survivors who bravely speak out.

Our government has been, and remains unequivocal: zero-tolerance policies are simply not enough.

We know that we have to work hard to change the culture that persists in policing.

And as leaders, we must acknowledge the problem is real, and address it as a priority.

That is why our government is focused on making progress to modernize and diversify our national police service.

Yet we clearly have a long way to go.

I know that Commissioner Lucki shares my conviction that the culture must evolve.

Focusing on addressing the root causes must remain at the forefront.

Recruiting must be modernized.

Women, whether they experience or witness harassment, must feel confident in coming forward to report incidents.

And those incidents must be resolved credibly at the earliest possible stage.

I will continue to do everything in my power to prevent the unacceptable incidents and behaviour outlined in the report from ever happening again.

Thank you, and I’ll look forward to your questions.

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